(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the transfer of data to seagoing vessels, and more particularly to a system for the transfer of secure mission data over commercial phone lines to a seagoing vessel that is in port.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
The current geo-political conditions and a decreasing defense budget mandate a variety of mission changes for the United States Navy. One such mission change is the requirement that submarines operate as part of battle groups. This means that submarines will now be spending more time in port with their assigned battle group instead of patrolling the ocean waters independently of all other sea/air traffic.
The change in submarine mission has led to a revaluation of a variety of submarine tasks such as communication therewith from land-based systems. For example, mission data updates (hereinafter designated as MDU) have traditionally been transmitted via a satellite network for receipt by a submarine""s radio antenna mounted in its sail. However, this requires the submarine""s radio room to be operational. While this is standard procedure at sea, operation of the radio room when in port is unnecessary. In addition, the number of applications competing for xe2x80x9cair timexe2x80x9d on the satellite network is ever increasing thereby causing delays in receiving MDU data from land-based systems or in transmitting data from the submarine to land-based systems. This problem is further exacerbated as the amount of MDU data that must be transferred for certain applications increases.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system that can transfer MDU data to a submarine without relying on the satellite network.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system that can transfer MDU data to a submarine in port without requiring the submarine""s radio room to be operational.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious hereinafter in the specification and drawings.
In accordance with the present invention, a communications system includes an information processor installed onboard a seagoing vessel. The vessel has at least one onboard system, e.g., a weapon system, for carrying out a mission that is defined by instructions originating at a remote location, e.g., MDU data. The information processor is programmed to receive unencrypted data related to the mission. A secure communications terminal has a first hardwire connection to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and a second hardwire connection to the information processor. The secure communications terminal receives encrypted data related to the mission over the first hardwire connection, converts the encrypted data to unencrypted data and supplies the unencrypted data over the second hardwire connection.